monumental gesture. a local billionaire history buff opening his checkbook to help fix the washington monument. good morning. welcome to news 4 today. i'm eun yang. >> i'm joe krebs. a beautiful sky out there. we had a crescent moon in the sky for a while overnight. and we have 30 degrees. it is cold out there this morning. >> cold enough for snow. now we're wondering if we'll get any, tom. >> you're not alone in that, too. a lot of teachers and students and snow lovers have been so frustrated this winter. it does look like we may get a bit, perhaps, on saturday morning. there's capitol hill under a clear sky. 26 degrees at reagan national. when we've had the cold air, it's been dry. when we've had the moisture, it's been warm. most of the moisture this winter has been in the form of rain. right now it's cold, down into the teens in montgomery and fairfax county. mid 20s in washington.

it's just in the upper teens now in prince george's, charles, calvert, st. mary's and anne arundel. it's in the teens throughout most of virginia, maryland, west virginia, the blue ridge and shenandoah valley. a few high clouds drifting in from the west. they will be with us this morning. a lot of sun this morning. sunrise 7:24. by noontime, upper 30s. increasing clouds this afternoon with a high reaching the low 40s. a look at evening planner in ten minutes. here's a look at traffic. good morning, danella. >> good morning. traveling southbound, i-270 at route 109, report of an accident. i'm seeing delays at this time. out of urbana, your slow. route 180, you're jammed making your way to route 109. traveling at father hurley boulevard, heading to the spur a

bit of congestion heading through rockville. no major delays yet. traveling 66 westbound at cub run -- east way towards route 28, possible accident. there i'm sending the chopper there now to check things out. i'm back in ten minutes with another look at traffic. back to you. a billionaire who also happens to be a history buff will donate millions of dollars to help fix one of the most iconic structures in the entire country. the national park service will make the announcement today. the washington monument has been off limits since the august 23rd earthquake. megan mcgrath is live down on the national mall with more on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, joe. it's one of washington's most popular tourist attractions, but the washington monument has been closed since it was damaged in a

59.8 earthquake last august. the price tag to fix the monument, $15 million. congress kicked in half of the money, but then told the park service to raise the rest. a single donor has come forward, david rubenstein, a local philanthropist has come forward with the $7.5 million. there is some issues with water seeping inside. there's some serious damage, far too unstable to allow visitors inside. too much damage to reopen to the tourists. so it's been closed since august. a lot of disappointed people, they come to town, want to go up to the top and see the view and they haven't been allowed inside. now things will get underway. all the money has been raised for the project. repairs are expected to take about a year so it will be a while before it reopens to the public. we are learning more about the renovation work as well as this donation coming up later on this morning during a press conference. joe, back to you. >> megan mcgrath, thank you very

much. rubenstein is no stranger to saving endangered icons around washington, d.c. last month he donated $4.5 million to the panda reproduction program. montgomery breeding has been unsuccessful over the past few years. seven months ago rubenstein donated $13.5 million to the national archives. new from overnight, a fire in montgomery county left three people without a home. it happened around midnight on waterside court in german decision tow town. investigators are trying to figure out what caused that fire. fire destroyed a home in potomac, maryland it took firefighters more than three hours to put out those flames. investigators believe it started on the first floor of the six-bedroom house. the family is searching for their dog that may have ran away when the fire began. and a bethesda mother faces charges after police say a fire started in her apartment when she went to the gym and left her child at home alone.

firefighters were called to the apartment on rock forest drive yesterday evening. police say that the 6-year-old girl set off the smoke alarm when she tried to use the toaster oven. when investigators showed up, police say the girl told them her mother went to a kickboxing class. the mother will be cited for leaving the child alone. they will turn their investigation over to the fore you text while driving ine virginia. police there may soon have the authority to pull you over for it. texting behind the wheel is already illegal in virginia but considered to be what they call a secondary offense, so police have to pull you over for another offense in order to charge you with texting. however a state senate committee just approved legislation that would make testing while driving a primary offense. a canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline from canada to texas plans to

kirisethat the keystone aid down the permit because congress only gave him 60 days to review the pipeline which was not enough time. republicans say the president is promise to create jobs. 6:05 is our time. coming up, apologizing the shockingpí ú also this morning romney's campaign is trying to 1

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wizards have upset the oklahoma city thunder. >> now, why can't they play like that every night? fans might say they were like lightning in a bottle. the wizards pulled off a 105-102 upset. the wizards will look for their third win of the season friday against the denver nuggets. the caps had their second shutout in two nights, this time they were on the winning side after losing 3-0 at home on tuesday, they went on the road to montreal and shut out the canadiens 3-0. alex ovechkin scored his 19th goal of the season in the win, and norworth made 31 saves on the night. the caps play the carolina hur ca hurricanes tomorrow. that's tomorrow. >> a good night for our on mor

kierein and the storm center. just about 6:11.zr hi,tom. thefy 7$a that'sand fair the city camera as we approach 6:11 on the morning on this 19th day of january, we have temperatures that are down into the teens in montgomery and fairfax and prince george's counties. arlington county the low 20s. mid 20s in washington. a little away from the bay waters, it's in the mid 20s to upper teens in many locations. around the blue ridge, shenandoah valley and west virginia, mid teens this morning. low 40s by mid afternoon, increasing clouds. here is the evening planner, sunsetmt evening,

a slight chance of a few flurries north and west of the metro area as a cold front moves in late tonight bringing in more cold weather tomorrow. maybe a little snow on the weekend? we'll talk about that in ten minutes. danella, how is traffic? >> live over i-66 eastbound at 29 making your way in centerville. an accident taking up the right side of the roadway. two of the left lanes are able to get by. trying to get 66 from 29, slow for you as you make your way left because part of your entrance ramp is blocked by the accident. it is causing big delays. you're jammed at sudley and slow towards centerville. on i-95 in virginia, hitting the brakes on fairfax county parkway. we have hol delays on thefp east delay is 11minutes. joe and eun, back to you. >>

divers are once again searching wreckage of an overturned cruise ship near italy. crews are looking for 21 people still missing from friday's disaster. this is a live look now forecasters say rough seas later today could force authorities to call off search efforts and plans to start pumping actual from the ship. the ship's captain is accused of steering the "costa concordia" into shallow waters causing it to overturn and killing 11 people. he is also accused of abandoning the ship. he tried to defend himself saying he tripped and fell and landed in a life boat. more human body parts have been found in that same california park where a dog found a severed head earlier this week. dog walkers found that human head tuesday wrapped in a plastic bag in the hollywood hills. then yesterday two hands and two feet were found not far from the home of the superstar couple brad pitt and angelina jolie. police say they are still trying to find out if all the parts

belong to the same person. they also say the pan may have been killed elsewhere and his body dumped in the park. mark wahlberg is apologizing for comments he made about the september 11th terrorist attacks. the actor told "mens journal" he would have stopped terrorists from flying a plane into the world trade center if he was on the plane. wahlberg was scheduled to be on one of the planes that crashed into the world trade center, but changed his ticket to attend a film festival. one of the widows of a 9/11 victim called the comments disrespectful. in his apology, wahlberg said he did not mean to be insensitive, adding it was ridiculous to suggest he would have done anything differently than the passengers killed on 9/11. a federal probe is investigating if the obama administration leaked classified information about the osama bin laden raid to hollywood producers. the pentagon and the cia are investigating a complaint filed by new york congressman peter king. katherine big low ryn bigelow i

movie about the raid. filmmakers got access to a high-level cia ceremony that honoring the unidentified s.e.a.l. team that killed bin laden. the white house denied any wrong doing. the movie is expected to be released in october. mitt romney is taking more heat this morning over his finances. the former pamassachusetts governor admits he has part of his fortune invested in the cayman islands which is known as a tax haven for americans. that spokesperson says the romneys are being taxed the same way they would as if the money were in the u.s. gingrich may be feeling some heat in the final days before the south carolina primary. abc news reports it is ready to air a candid interview it taped with the former house speaker's second wife. the gingrich campaign appears to be trying to get out ahead of the story. it released a statement from gingrich's daughters from his first marriage in which they state their support for their father.

the attacks against mitt romney could be helping his rivals get back in the race. a new poll shows his challengers are starting to narrow the lead and now president obama is starting to make his voice heard. melissa has more on the poll and the president's first campaign add. >> mitt romney has lost some support, but more importantly his rivals are gaining ground on the former governor. take a look right here. the poll by "time" magazine and cnn shows 33% of voters in south carolina are supporting romney at this point. that's still a double digit lead over gingrich who has 23%, earlier this month romney led the entire pack by 20 points. looking at rick santorum, he's been striking distance, due to his appeal with social conservatives. he is currently earning 16%. flipping that around for ron paul. ron paul not far behind him with 13%. all of this could change before

saturday, of course, as 7% of voters say they have not made up their minds at this point. now, as republican candidates jockey for position, president obama's campaign is about to kick off. the president's first campaign ad of the season is out this morning. in it the president responds to a spot released by americans for prosperity. the group accuses mr. obama's campaign of collecting funds from a solar company that declared bankruptcy in exchange for a large, federal loan. >> independent watchdogs call this president's record on ethics unprecedented. america's clean energy industry, $2.7 million jobs and expanding rapidly. >> that ad is running in a handful of states including virginia. back to you. one of the stars of "parks and recreation" rob lowe is stirring up peyton manning retirement rumors on twitter. lowe said hearing my fave peyton manning is not return together nfl.

add together credibility of that is the friendship with the colts owner. several sources shot down the sources, including manning's father and his agent. manning sat out the entire 2011 season after undergoing multiple neck surgeries. all right. 6:21 now. time for weather and traffic on the ones. tom kierein is here to tell us more about these frigid temperatures. >> it's a puffy coat day. temperatures down into the teens throughout much of the region including montgomery, fairfax, arlington counties. inland, away from the waters, it's in the low to mid 20s, northern neck and the eastern shore. further west, only the low to mid teens around the blue ridge, shenandoah valley and west virginia where there are a few high clouds drifting in ahead of a cold front, another cold front coming our way bringing in a surge of cold air tonight. as that front approaches, we

will get increasing high clouds today. temperatures increasing to 40 this afternoon. this evening, in the 30s. a few flurries as that front comes in mid tight tonight and pre-dawn friday. down to the mid 20s tomorrow morning. upper 30s on friday. saturday morning we could get a little snow and some sleet and maybe some freezing rain for two or three hours or so around dawn. then change to all rain the rest of the day with the high near 40. cloud and and cold on sunday. warmer on monday. danella, how is traffic? >> breaking news on i-66 heading east. a six-mile backup at this time. chopper 4 is live over the crash. this 166 eastbound at 29. block the right side of the roadway. only two lanes to the left are getting by. if you're merging on to 66, slow as you make your way over. i can tell you the delays are serious. here's a live look at cub run. you're bumper to bumper.

once you pass 29, it gets better for you. i-95, slow as well. slow out of the occoquan, and stop and go towards 395. travel teams are about 35 miles per hour. back to you. 6:22 is the time. ahead, liquid gold. the unusual item being stolen that is costing local businesses thousands. and surprising claims in a new book just out about jfk jr.

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death of john f. kennedy jr. and his wife, carolyn bessette, his assistant says the couple were having serious marital problems. rosemary terenzio sat down with "people" magazine to talk about the book. bessette initially refused to get on the flight in 1999. terenzio told carolyn she could go on the trip because it was a family wedding. hours later the plane crashed into the atlantic ocean near martha's vineyard. kennedy, carolyn bessette and lauren bessette were all killed. our time is 6:27. it's sure to get pepco customers riled up. what list the company is near the top of. >> i keep looking around thinking they have been watching me, and that they will follow me home. and an elderly woman scammed and robbed. but it's how the crook pulled it off that has police particularly

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breaking news on the road. an accident backing up traffic for miles. how to avoid it. >> and scrap the station. the proposal to eliminate plans to build the long-talked about

metro station at dulles airport. welcome back to news 4 today. i'm joe krebs. >> i eun yang. let's look outside at 6:30. we have 28 degrees out there. that's probably a warm spot in the region. some places seeing really frigid temperatures. tom kierein is here to talk about the forecast. >> winds are much gentler than yesterday. they are settling down overnight. gazing at an exquisite crescent moon. that's the live view from our sky watch camera. it's down into the teens in fairfax, arlington, montgomery and prince georges county, west virginia, virginia, maryland, teens near 20. near the waters, it's in the upper 20s.

a few high clouds drifting over the central shenandoah valley, otherwise a clear sky. sunrise at 7:24. still below freezing by midmorning. a lot of sun this morning, clouds on the increase during the afternoon. we should climb into the low 40s briefly by early to mid afternoon. a look at your evening planner in ten minutes. here's a look at traffic. good morning, danella. >> breaking news on the crash at i-66 at 29. good news now, is that the crash is on the right shoulder lane. we are seeing a relief. earlier it was a six-mile backup, now looking like a three-mile backup. still slow at sudley road. traffic is getting better. taking the beltway in montgomery county, hitting the breaks at new hampshire avenue, delays continue as you make your way towards georgia avenue. brunswick east, 872, a 12-minute delay. penn north, train 400, a 26

minute delay. and the 505, a 32-minute delay. metro's new silver line may not make a stop at dulles after all. according to "the washington examiner" the airport authority is thinking about eliminating the stop altogether. instead riders would have to get along route 28 in fairfax county and then take a bus or light rail train another mile and a half to the airport. that move could save about $70 million. most airport authority members say they oppose eliminating the dulles station. today a former mt. rainier police officer will learn his fate nearly two months after pleading guilty to attempted murder. gene gillette was said to have lured a man to his capital heights home last july. once there, they say gillette tried to sexually assault the man and shot him when he tried to get away. gillette is a former two-time

officer of the year and an iraq war veteran. a d.c. police sergeant is on administra administrative leave this morning accused of beating up a female bartender. the sergeant got in fight with a bartender at gorginas on mlk avenue yesterday morning. he screamed expletives at her, grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. he was arrested and charged with domestic violence. today the parentses of a virginia girl who disappeared and was found dead four years ago will release a new lead in the case. annie mccann was found dead in november of 2008 in an east baltimore housing project. officials say mccann died from a lethal dose of lidocaine from a bottle of bactine. police say her death points to suicide, but the mccann family believes she was murdered. today they'll hold a news conference announcing new developments. police need your help finding this woman whom they say

robbed an 84-year-old woman in takoma park last week. investigators say she approached the victim at murray's steaks store. she was with another woman and three young children who the woman said had not eaten in days. after agreeing to help the woman cash a check at a nearby bank, the suspect told her she had a gun. >> were you scared, ma'am? >> yes, ma'am. i'm still scared. i keep looking around thinking they have been watching me, and they will follow me home. >> police say she forced the victim to withdraw thousands of dollars in cash from her life savings. some call it liquid gold in prince george's county thieves are going around stealing used cooking oil. the used oil, which processing companies collect and make into biodiesel fuel and other products including soap is worth a dollar or more per gallon. so far no arrests have been made. the 24-hour internet-based protest over a set of piracy bills in congress is over. this morning the websites are

back up but the legislation is losing steam fast. just hours after an estimated 7,000 web domains protested, two congressmen and two senators with drew support. some sites including wikipedia and craigslist shut down completely yesterday. the concern is that the bills could limit free speech. one of the bills would allow the government to monitor and shut down websites accused of distributing pirated material. the second would target foreign sites. it is 6:36. 28 degrees. the dangerous prank that police say could seriously hurt someone. and it's called the dirty 30. the list pepco landed on this morning. at 6:55 this morning, the proposal that could make a part of d.c. look more like times square. and monumental generosity from one local billionaire what

>> i mean that with all my

heart. i thank you for this award. >> that is news 4's own tom sherwood accepting a special award from washingtonian magazine. he was name one of eight washingtonians of the year. the award honors those whose good works and generous spirit makes washington a good place to live and work. jim vance got to introduce tom sherwood. congratulations to him. very well deserved. >> indeed. we love tom sherwood here. can't believe he said something nice for a change. >> he always says things nice, you just have to filter through it sometimes. beautiful look outside right now at 6:40. look at that. 28 degrees. a touch of the sun glowing in the horizon. tom kierein telling us about these cold temperatures. will the sun heat us up at all? >> not much today. we are into an extended period of cold weather. it is down into the teens

throughout most of virginia, maryland, west virginia now, except near the bay waters and the tidal potomac. reagan national at 26. montgomery, arlington, fairfax and prince george's counties, only in the upper teens now. a few wispy clouds in the shenandoah valley. peaking near 40 this afternoon. here is your evening planner. sunset at 5:14. cloudy this evening. mid 30s near midnight. after midnight, might get a few flurries north of the metro area. greater chance of snow on the weekend. we'll talk about that in ten minutes. how is traffic now, danella? >> 395 northbound pretty heavy past duke street, hitting the brakes. a lot of delays, even crossing the 14th street bridge. right now, 38 miles per hour as you make your commute this morning. on the rails, a few delays.

first penn north train, 400, 14-minute delay. penn south, 407, a 30-minute delay. train 505 on the penn south, a 32-minute delay. joe, eun, back to you. a new report says pepco is one of the dirty 30. that's the list of the top 30 fortune 500 corporations that pay less on federal income taxes than they spend on lobbying. it says between 2000 and 2010, the utility company paid $3.8 million to lobbyists but did not pay any taxes. the report adds that pepco made $508 million in profits from federal tax rebates. last year pepco was named one of the most hated companies in the united states by the american customer satisfaction index group. new from overnight, firefighters are trying to figure out what sparked a fire on waterside court in germantown.

firefighters were called to the townhouse just after midnight. they believe the fire started near a fireplace downstairs and then moved up to the attic. nobody was injured. fairfax county fire officials say someone intentionally set a fire at a federal judge's house last month. the flames ripped through an upstairs bedroom at judge liam o'grady's home. a teenager was inside the home at the time but got out safely. the fire caused $300,000 in damages. investigators not saying how the fire was set or if there are possible suspects. a bethesda mother faces charges after police say a fire started while she was at the gym and left her 6-year-old home alone. police say that the 6-year-old girl set off the smoke alarm when she tried to use the toaster oven. when investigators showed up, police say the girl told them her mother went to a kickboxing class. the mother will be cited for leaving the child alone.

they will turn their case over to the state's attorney's office. you may want to think twice before texting while driving in virginia. police there may soon have the authority to pull you over for it. texting behind the wheel is already illegal in virginia but considered a secondary offense, that means police must pull you over for another offense first before nabbing you for texting while driving. however a state senate committee just approved legislation that would make testing while driving a primary offense. homeowner associations in one montgomery county community are planning to step up neighborhood watches as police search for the person who is throwing bricks and rocks into peoples homes and cars. the incidents have cost residents in montgomery village thousands of dollars in repairs. one woman says the vandal has targeted her home twice over the past six weeks, throwing a brick through her sliding glass door. all the incidents have happened within a mile of each other. that leads police to believe the vandal or vandals live in that

area. new from overnight, kodak finally made the announcement everyone was expecting. here is brian scahtman with more on that. >> reporter: eastman kodak filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. the 130-year-old film pioneer has secured close to a billion dollar credit line to keep operating. kodak has not turned a profit since 2011. the story line is that it did not embrace more modern technology. take the digital camera. it didn't embrace it but it invented it. just an incredible and quick downfall. it could reinvent its in bankruptcy and come out the other veiling more than 60 new apps. they will let you share minute details on what you cook for dinner what you're wearing or what concert you are going to. they call it frictionless sharing. once you sign up for the app,

they automatically share your latest information. guys, i don't think america is too interested in what i had for breakfast, i guess their 600 million users will jump at the chance to share more. >> i don't mean this personally, but who cares. >> nothing personal taken. tonight republican white house hopeful also have their last chance to impress south carolina voters before that state's primary. they will square off in a debate in charleston. at this point, mitt romney is a clear front-runner in the palmetto state. he holds a ten-point lead over newt gingrich. rick santorum is in third place, ron paul is fourth, and rick perry is in fifth place. santorum is expected to pick up momentum today when the official iowa caucus results are announced.

the des moines register is saying santorum will end up with more votes than romney. melissa is in the newsroom to explain this. >> reporter: a new report out moments ago by the des moines register says rick santorum will be declared the winner of the iowa caucus beating mitt romney by 84 votes. officials say this is a split decision, according to the article gop officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts but not all the changes effected the candidates. more than 131,000 people voted in the caucuses. the iowa gop will make a statement shortly. mitt romney just released a statement saying in part the results from the iowa caucus night revealed a virtual tie. i would like to thank the iowa republican party for their careful attention to the caucus process as we once again recognize rick santorum for his strong performance in the state. at this point, nbc news has not confirmed this information

independently. we will pass along additional information as it comes into the newsroom. joe? >> thank you very much. steven colbert's fake run for the presidency will involve a real rally with a real former presidential candidate today. colbert will appear with herman cain. the title is rock me like a herman cain. earlier this week, a super pac formed by colbert and jon stewart released an ad urging south carolinians to vote for herman cain in the primary. today president obama will launch his new plan for boosting u.s. tourism by visiting the self-styled happiest place on earth. the president is stopping by walt disney world in orlando, florida the industry is pushing the president and congress making travel to the united states easier for people living in developing countries. a canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline

across north america plans to reapply for a permit that president obama turned down. the keystone pipeline would run from canada to texas. transcanada's ceo said he was not surprised that the keystone pipeline got rejected. president obama said he turned down the pipeline because congress only gave him 60 days to review the peline which was not enough time. republicans say the president is breaking a promise to create jobs. for the mother in washington state, making it to the hospital in time to have her baby wasn't a problem. >> but, making it to the delivery room was. listen to this. katie thacker and her husband made it to the hospital in the snow without problem. when they arrived, katie was put on an elevator, well tsh, it malfunctioned. katie and the nurses and the midwife got stuck between 12 and 14, 13, get it. that's where their baby boy, blake, was born. >> i was in such hard labor, i was like, are you kidding me?

i heard the clinking of the elevator trying to do stuff. >> i don't think she was in the elevator for more than 10, 20 minutes, i heard my son cry. >> wonder why they didn't name that boy otis two hours later the elevator doors finally opened but the elevator was still stuck between floors, so the father had to climb down into the elevator where he saw his son for the first time and he cut the umbilical cord. >> i heard of stories being born in cars, on the road, on a moving train. now i've heard it all. stuck in an elevator? >> not only that, but around floor 13. not rather lucky. >> okay. more stories to tell. amazing story. tom, tell us about the forecast. >> it's cold this morning. a puffy coat day. need to layer up before you head off to work and school. before you -- if you step outside, look at the sky, you'll

see a gorgeous crescent moon in the southeastern sky. right now over capitol hill, the sky is growing brighter. there's a live view from the city camera. a bit of a breeze on the potomac river, 26 at reagan national. that's a warm spot. it is picking up a breeze off the potomac which is around 40 degrees, the water temperature. also milder near the bay. 20s on the waters, away from the waters, in the teens. mitt teens to upper teens, blue ridge to shenandoah valley. and we do have a few high clouds drifting in from the west ahead of a cold front arriving tonight. a cold front? it's already cold. yes, we will get a reinforcing shot of cold air later tonight. sunrise at 7:24. we'll still be below freezing midmorning and get near 40 by mid afternoon with increasing clouds. a cloudy night tonight, 30s about midnight. after midnight, the cold front

sweeps through. a slight chance of a few flurries flying through the air pre-dawn on friday. sun tomorrow, partly cloudy. upper 30s tomorrow. 30s on saturday. we may get snow, maybe a little sleet or freezing rain around dawn on saturday. it won't last long. cloudy sunday, maybe some rain with warmer temperatures on monday. danella, how is traffic? good morning. chopper 4 live over the beltway. the inner loop jammed at this time. delays start around braddock, and you can see the chopper at little river turnpike, they continue as you head to i-66. i-66 still big delays at sudley road. those delays continue to centreville. on i-270, seeing a lot of volume at shady grove. clear, no accidents, but you are seeing some delays making your way through rockville. joe and eun, back to you. >> thank you very much.

a billionaire history buff will donate millions of dollars to help fix one of the most iconic structures in the country. the washington park service will make the announcement today. megan mcgrath has more. good morning. >> reporter: it's been a big disappointment for tourists, they make it to washington and can't go to the top of the washington monument. it's been closed since that 5.8 earthquake back in august. the repair bill? $15 million. congress came up with half the money and told the park service they would have to come up with the rest. a single donor has come forward with the money. david rubenstein of the carlisle group has donated $7.5 million to complete the project. there was an issue of water seeping inside, it was too dangerous to allow visitors back

in it's been closed for several months since august. the repair work should be getting underway. it's expected to take about a year. so it's going to still be a while before the monument can reopen. we will learn more about the work and the donation made during a press conference coming up this morning. eun, back to you. >> megan, thank. if the name david rubenstein sounds familiar, here's why last months he donated $4.5 millions to the panda reproduction program. the zoo has two giant pandas but breeding has been unsuccessful over the past few years. seven months ago rubenstein donated $13.5 million to the national archives. it's already lively and always lit up, but chinatown area could look more and more like times square. the d.c. council is considering a bill that would allow up to nine jumbotrons around the verizon center. the signs could be any size, and that has at least one

neighboring business upset. not everyone is okay with the proposal. vida fitness says it is worried the billboards would wrap around the entire arena ruining the natural light and driving down property values. they say the bright lights would be viewable from the treasury building nearly a mile away. the d.c. council will hold a hearing on the issue next monday. the past is getting a lot more colorful thanks to a swedish artist. she is transforming some of the world's most famous black and white photos. sana dellaway is adding high resolution color to the photographs. the photographs include the victory in japan day celebration, featuring the famous sailor kiss in times square. then the shocking picture of a prisoner being shot by an army general during the vietnam war. and she is also planning to ve so-called american dream photograph that portrayed the success of mostly whites in america. the artist hopes to sell her work online. very cool to see those images. >> they're very interesting.

it's interesting to see with the color, the pictures look warmer, i guess, but there's something very striking about those black and white photos that really capture the history behind all of those pictures. >> indeed. >> really nice. >> let's check the forecast once again. meteorologist tom kierein, it's really cold out there. >> down into the teens, thankfully we have a light wind this morning, but it is in the teens. later today, climbing to around 40 or so with increasing clouds. late tonight a slight chance of a few flurries mainly north of the d.c. metro area. cold again on friday. saturday morning, a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain changing to all rain rest of the day. danella, how is traffic? looking at the outer loop of the beltway at new hampshire boulevard, you are hitting the brakes. delays start around i-95 and continue as you head to i-27i-2. >> danella, thank you very much. that's new 4 today. thank you for starting your day with us. >> the "today" is next.

we are back tomorrow morning at 4:30. hope you you join us then. until then, have a great